Charter School To Close Amid Cheating Allegations

Last updated on Friday, August 22, 2014

(INDIANAPOLIS) - Flanner House Elementary, an Indianapolis charter school, will close in September amid cheating allegations, Mayor Greg Ballard announced Thursday.

An investigation into high jumps in ISTEP test scores revealed a list of issues with the school's testing in 2013 and 2014.

The Indiana Department of Education released its findings to the mayor's office Monday, and it was decided the school would surrender its charter and close effective Sept. 11.

Here's what the investigation found:

An "unusually high" number of wrong answers were changed to right answers on the 2013 ISTEP test
Adult handwriting was found in student answers on the 2013 test
Students were given test questions before taking the 2014 test, and teachers revised and edited students' answers to the questions before the test was administered
The school didn't follow several testing security procedures

"Cheating simply will not be tolerated in our schools," Ballard said in a Thursday news release. "I support the decision by the Flanner House Elementary Charter School Board of Directors to close this school. Our team is now squarely focused on helping the students and families at Flanner House Elementary quickly find another high-quality public, private or charter school."

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